Touch Me Not Plant – Mimosa Pudica

Mimosa Pudica- Sensitive Plant

The touch me not plant or Mimosa Pudica is a herb whose leaves go limp and droop when exposed to touch, but re-opens several minutes later. The quality where the structure of a plant or tree changes over a very short period of time is known as rapid tree movement.

The Mimosa pudica is native to South and Central America, but is now found around the world, because of its fascinating response to human touch. Like some other plants, the leaves of the touch me not plant, seem to go to sleep when exposed to touch.

The restructure of the leaves is due to a loss of turgor pressure, which is the force applied to the cell walls by water inside the cells, that makes the leaves stand upright. When a branch is disturbed, the plant releases potassium ions, which in turn force water out of the cells within the leaf.

The loss of water pressure inside the cells cause the leaves to go limp. Another plant that exhibits similar qualities is the Venus Flytrap.

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